At
UN
on Western Sahara, Ban's Final Report Has No Rights Monitor in
MINURSO

By
Matthew
Russell Lee

UNITED
NATIONS,
April 15 -- Nine days after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
was supposed to issue his annual report on Western Sahara, and after
extensive
lobbying by Morocco and France, Ban on Friday put out a
text which did not include the human rights monitoring mechanism that
even the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has urged.

Instead
the
finalreport, being put online here and here, has Ban
“appreciating”
Morocco's “expressed commitment” to allow Special Procedures and
presumably Special Rapporteurs from the UN Human Rights Council. See
Paragraph 121 in this
file, and compare to this.

Not
explained is
why having a human rights monitoring mechanism, which other UN
Peacekeeping missions in Africa have, is not being done in the case
of Western Sahara, particularly at a time when France and other
Permanent Five members of the Security Council are citing human
rights and the protection of civilians as the basis for military
action in Libya and Cote d'Ivoire.

The
lead Ambassador
of a non-permanent member of the Security Council told Inner City
Press that Morocco's push was that it would “stop the political
track” if a human rights monitoring mechanism were imposed. But if
such threats are successful here, they will be tried even more
elsewhere, in places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo or
Sudan.

Is
it, he wondered,
that France is more unequivocally the attack dog for Morocco than any
P-5 member is for Sudan? The consultations were postponed until
Monday. Watch this site.

UNITED
NATIONS,
April
13 -- Though the UN's Western Sahara report and
resolution are only once a year, this April the UN is in
chaos, which
it blames the leak to and publication by Inner City Press of the UN's
draft report on Western Sahara.

The
report was due
April 6, but after publication of the leak -- and the UN refusing to
take Inner City Press' questions on the topic -- it was delayed. Then
meeting of the Troop Contributing Countries of the UN Mission
MINURSO, set for April 12, was postponed.

Now,
Inner City
Press is told, the consultations scheduled for Friday, April 15 have
also been postponed. Morocco and Algeria are trading arguments. In
the “Group of Friends” on the resolution, France is fighting off
not only a proposal for a human rights monitoring mechanism, but also
to distribute the draft Security Council resolution on a timely basis
to the Council members, including South Africa, which are not in the
Group of Friends.

Meanwhile
at the
UN noon briefing on April 13 -- the day after the UN claimed it
hadn't misled about Ban Ki-moon's panel meeting with Sri Lanka
officials -- Ban's acting deputy spokesman was asked (by BBC) about
the leaked, published and delayed report:

Question:
Can
you tell us what’s happened to the report on Western Sahara? I
heard that it might be published today. And also can you tell us
why it is being delayed for a week? Because according to our
schedule, it was supposed to be published last Wednesday.

Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson
Haq: It took some time to finalize the report. Sometimes
over the drafting process there is editing and approval and
I believe — although I’d need to check — but I believe it is
being finalized now. So hopefully it will become a document shortly.
I’ll just check when it will be a document.

Question:
Can
you just respond to allegations from the Polisario that Morocco
managed to get a copy earlier on and has been lobbying with French
support to change some of the language, particularly on human rights,
on a human rights mechanism for MINURSO [United Nations Mission for
the Referendum in Western Sahara]?

Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, first of all, once the report is out, you
can see for yourself the language about human rights. There is
language on human rights in the report, and I would simply refer you
to the language used in the report. As for changes and whether a
copy had been leaked, I am aware that there was a draft version,
which I believe Martin [Nesirky] had mentioned. It was simply a
draft with no official status which had been leaked, and you can
probably see it on the website
of one of your colleagues.

Question:
But
the question, really — sorry, maybe I wasn’t clear — is
that the allegation is that’s the reason for the delay in
publication; that the Secretariat has come under a lot of pressure to
change some of the language in the report.

Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson:
No, no; with any number of reports on any
number of topics, different countries will seek to talk to the
Secretariat and influence the language of a report one way or
another. But ultimately, the Secretariat makes its own evaluations
and writes its own language. And you will be able to see for
yourself what language is, but there is human rights language in the
report.

Yeah
-- human
rights “language” -- but is it
for a monitoring mechanism, or
merely what Morocco and France want, a welcoming of Morocco allowing
in special rapporteurs? Watch this site.

* * *

On
W.
Sahara,
Not
Answering on Morocco Lobbying, UN Decries
Leaks to Press

By
Matthew
Russell
Lee

UNITED
NATIONS,
April
7
-- A day after the UN
refused to take questions
about its draft Western Sahara report, on April 7 Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky had a written statement ready.

Inner
City
Press:
There
is a report that’s due of the Secretary-General
on the situation on Western Sahara. Various leaked copies of
it have
circulated. And I have heard that there was some extensive lobbying
of the Secretariat by Morocco to have paragraph 119 not ask for human
rights monitoring mechanism but rather for, welcome Morocco
inviting
in special rapporteurs. So, I wonder if you could describe, some of
these accounts come from within the Secretariat; could you describe
what the communications, what the process is for creating such a
paragraph? Who the Secretary-General has spoken to and what his
thinking is on having a human rights mechanism in the MINURSO [United
Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara] mission.

Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky:
Well,
what I can tell you is that we are aware that
an internal working document pertaining to the situation in Western
Sahara was leaked and published electronically. This document is not
a final report. It has not been endorsed by the Secretary-General
and, therefore, it has no status. The United Nations finds it
regrettable that internal working documents of the Organization have
been leaked and published. Thank you very much.

Inner
City
Press:
Are
you being lobbied by Morocco, as someone inside the
Secretariat has told me? I mean, just yes or no?

Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Matthew,
I
said one last question and you’ve asked
another question. I have answered your question.

But
the initial
question, which Nesirky refused to take on April 6, was about the
lobbying of the Secretariat and its Department of Peacekeeping
Operations that Morocco is allowed to do -- and Nesirky still hasn't
answered it.

Ban and Nesirky in North Lawn, Morocco lobbying
& answers not shown

Rather,
Inner City
Press has now learned from multiple sources, after Inner City Press
left the briefing room Nesirky stayed loudly complaining about Inner
City Press somehow “speaking over” him. But Inner City Press had
said it had a question to ask about Western Sahara - and the lobbying
Ban allows, at least from one side - and will continue to ask the
question until it is answered.

Footnote:
while
the
UN's
Western Sahara report was slated to be released on
April 6, by 6 pm on April 7 it had still not been released. Watch
this site.

* * *

On
Western
Sahara,
Draft
Reports
Published as UN Refuses to Take Morocco Q

By
Matthew
Russell
Lee

UNITED
NATIONS,
April
6
--
For days, senior UN officials have been telling
Inner City Press about aggressive lobbying by Morocco about the
specifics of the forthcoming UN report on Western Sahara, a leaked
copy of which Morocco was given from within the UN Secretariat.

Inner
City
Press
on
April
4 wrote about the topic -- having also obtained a copy from
diplomatic sources -- and on April 6 repeatedly told Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky that it wanted to ask
a Western Sahara question at that day's noon briefing.

“I have a
question on Western Sahara,” Inner City Press said, ceding first to
another journalist on Haiti. But Nesirky then declared without
explanation he would take only one more question, on another topic.
Inner City Press repeated, “I have a question on Western Sahara.”
But Nesikry stood up, declaring his briefing over. Nor does he respond
to or even acknowledge the majority of e-mailed Press questions.

Even
those
close
to
Ban
say that the level of pressure -- which Ban has apparently
given into -- was extreme. At the same time, Ban is closely linked
with France in military action in Cote d'Ivoire.

A
day
after
French
foreign
minister Alain Juppe said that UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon agrees that Laurent Gbagbo must sign a letter
ceding power to Alassane Ouattara, Inner City Press asked Ban's
spokesman Martin Nesirky if that is, in fact, Ban's position.

“I don't speak
for the French Foreign Minister,” Nesirky said.

“But you do
speak for the Secretary General,” Inner City Press asked. Is it
Ban's position or not?

Nesirky
would
not
answer,
saying
he would not characterize the Secretary General's
communications with Juppe. Then he refused repeated requests that he
answer a question about Western Sahara.

Thus
does
the
UN
thumbs
its nose at transparency and lose credibility, by being used
by France and Morocco, not only in Cote d'Ivoire but Western Sahara
too. Watch this site.